Adult resuscitation has been practiced in which cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is self-timed, with the timing having been practiced on a CPR model. The model simulates an adult and the rhythms utilized for chest compression and breathing of the victim are readily learned in that these actions correspond to natural rhythms of an adult who is providing the resuscitative effort.
CPR training concentrates on providing the trainee with sufficient practice so that he or she may provide the correct number of compressions per minute and also the correct number of respirations per minute. While this timing is effective for adult patients, in children from ages 1 through 12 or infants up to one year of age, the optimal number of compressions per minute and the optimal number of respirations per minute vary markedly over those learned in the CPR course. In general, an adolescent and/or adult requires 60 compressions per minute and 12 respirations per minute. This is contrasted to a child of 1 to 12 years of age, who requires 80 compressions per minute and 16 respirations per minute; or to an infant, who requires 100 compressions per minute and 20 respirations per minute.
Training for adult CPR is thus insufficient to provide proper resuscitation for infants and children, especially when stress and confusion may interfere with the adaption of adult CPR techniques to pediatric patients. This stress or confusion is compounded when two people perform the CPR and attempts are made to synchronize the effort of the person performing the chest compression with the effort of the person performing the respiration. Moreover, it is virtually impossible to instruct untrained personnel at the time that resuscitation is required, which prevents relieving the person practicing the resuscitation with otherwise untrained individuals who may be in the area.
The problem of resuscitation of infants and children is particularly acute in the so-called crib death syndrome and also in the recovery from anesthesia. When infants and children arrest, whether in the emergency room or ambulance, oftentimes traditional CPR training is ineffective to effectuate resuscitation, since nonpediatrically-trained personnel may not have the skill to resuscitate arresting infants or children.